The NHS trust behind the Stafford hospital scandal is to be put into
administration, one of the Government’s health regulators announced this
morning.

Monitor said Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust should be put into administration “in order to safeguard services for local patients”, because it was “neither clinically nor financially sustainable in its current form in the long term”.

The board of Monitor, which regulates semi-autonomous NHS foundation trusts, made the "decision in principle" to take the drastic action on Monday. It is likely to lead to the break up of trust, which runs Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals.

It will now consult Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, and key organisations before making a final call. It is highly unlikely Monitor will change its mind.

Hundreds of patients died unnecessarily due to “appalling” care on Stafford hospital’s wards between 2005 and 2009.

Just three weeks ago Robert Francis QC, who chaired the £13 million public inquiry into failings that led to the deaths, published his damning report into what many have called the darkest episode in the history of the NHS.

He called for wholesale changes to the culture of the NHS, to put patients first.

However, Monitor’s decision is not a reaction to the report: the current Mid Staffs board insists Stafford hospital is now immensely improved.

Rather, it is due to long-standing concerns that Mid Staffs serves too small a population to be viable.

David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor, said: “We are now consulting on whether to appoint Trust Special Administrators with the expertise to reorganise services in a way which is clinically robust and sustainable.

“Their priority will be to make sure that patients can continue to access the services that they need and they will work with the local community to do this.

“Taking into account the consultation process, it would be several weeks before Trust Special Administrators were in place.

“In the meantime the Trust Board will continue to ensure the current range of services are delivered for patients and Trust Special Administrators would then continue that responsibility.”

Last summer South London NHS Trust was put into special administration, at the behest of Mr Hunt’s predecessor, Andrew Lansley. It was losing £1 million a week.

Mid Staffs is different because it is a foundation trust, so the final decision - which is expected to be made very soon - will be taken by Monitor.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Despite improvements, Mid Staffordshire is still facing serious financial challenges. This puts at risk its work on improving services for patients. It is important that valued local services will last and are able to continue providing high quality treatment and advice for patients.

"We appreciate that this is an area where people are going to hold strong views. Monitor will now consult with key stakeholders, including the Secretary of State for Health, before making a final decision on the appointment."

Two weeks ago the Mid Staffs board held a press event to show "how it has managed to overcome" the problems of recent years, and how the lessons it had learnt "could be used to lead change throughout the NHS".

But John Caldwell, its chairman, was resigned to the fact that the trust could not go on as it was.

Describing the decision to appoint a special administrator as a "significant step", he said: "We have accepted for some time that Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust working alone cannot produce a long lasting solution to the issues we face to ensure financial and clinical sustainability."

He said the "primary concern" of the board was to deliver "safe and sustainable services" to the local population.

The announcement comes as Sir David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, was due to be confronted with angry protestors calling for his resignation.

Members of the Stafford-based Cure the NHS group travelled to Manchester to confront him at a meeting of the NHS Commissioning Board, which Sir David now heads.